The district's Head Start program has taught a vast majority of its students skills ranging from math to problem solving, according to a report presented to the school board this week. The report, prepared by the Santa Ana Unified School District staff, which interviewed 112 parents, found that more than 90% of the children improved problem-solving skills. The least-effective Head Start programs involved beginning reading and beginning writing.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District next month will begin a federally funded Head Start program for preschool children, school officials said this week. The district received word Monday from Head Start officials in Santa Ana that a Laguna Beach program would be funded, said Robert Klempen, district director of instructional services.

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission today will consider a proposal to move a preschool for children from low-income families to an apartment complex, making it Ventura County's first Head Start program to be located in a housing project. The federally funded Head Start program, operated by the county to help 3- and 4-year-old children prepare for kindergarten, is now at Church of the Oaks on Warwick Avenue. But the building that houses the preschool is scheduled to be torn down.

Four-year-old Javier Ortega and his classmates got a break from their regular routine Monday at the Valerio branch of Head Start. Instead of arts and crafts and story time on the rug, more than 60 preschoolers took turns donning a giant set of headphones and throwing colorful blocks into a bucket. They were having fun, with a purpose.

At Head Start schools where his audiences include 4-year-olds, David Aguilar uses puppets to illustrate the hazards of smoking and discourage youngsters from lighting their first cigarette. "It's something they will identify with," he said. "They will identify that tobacco smoke is harmful because the smoker (puppet) can't exercise with his friends and he's always coughing."

Geraldine Pittman Woods, a Harvard-Radcliffe-educated neuroembryologist who helped expand opportunities for minorities in education, has died. Woods was 78 and died Dec. 27 at her home in Aliso Viejo after a lengthy illness, said Sybil J. Thomas Coker, a family spokesperson. A longtime resident of Los Angeles before retiring to Orange County, Woods was active for decades in Delta Sigma Theta, a predominantly black national public service sorority of more than 190,000 college-educated women.

Los Angeles County officials Friday received a plan to retain a local agency as the administrator of Head Start programs in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys through the end of June, raising the chances that the agency will be able to continue in charge of the program next year. Parents and union officials approved the plan, which calls for 44 people, mostly administrators, to be laid off at the Latin American Civic Assn.

Priscilla Allen says her head-splitting performance in the new Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Total Recall" is brief but unforgettable. "I certainly have had a lot of exposure with my head coming apart all over the country," she said. "Evidently my scene is extremely memorable because total strangers are coming up to ask me about it." Allen's exploding head is featured in advertisements for the sci-fi thriller.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education announced late Friday that it would appoint a manager to operate the Frederick Douglass Child Development Center in Los Angeles as a result of "ongoing management and organizational problems" at the Head Start agency. Those problems include a failure to define the responsibilities of the board of directors and the agency's executive staff, said Gilberto Anzaldua, assistant superintendent for educational services.

January 27, 1990 | JAMES GERSTENZANG and TOM REDBURN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

President Bush, in a surprise announcement, disclosed Friday that he will seek a $500-million increase in government funding next year for Head Start, a 25-year-old program intended to help disadvantaged youngsters prepare for elementary school. Bush said the proposed 36% jump in federal spending is intended to expand the program--one of the few remaining elements of Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty--so it can reach 70% of the disadvantaged 4-year-olds in the nation. Elsewhere in the draft $1.